The Relevance of Mime in Animation

Paris-trained mime Lorin Eric Salm answers the age-old question, Are mimes relevant in animation? That’s only second in importance to the question: if a mime falls in a forest and no one is around to hear it, does anyone care?

I’ve come to the conclusion that you can tell a lot about the quality of animation simply by watching it with the sound completely off.

If you can still tell what’s going on, then you’ve an animator’s greatest work flashing before your eyes.

I dare you to watch a Looney Tunes short and an episode of Family Guy that way and prove me wrong.

John

Why is it relevant what they’re like with the sound off if they’re meant to be watched with the sound on? What if you watched them with your eyes closed and the sound on?

http://www.animationanomaly.com Charles Kenny

it’s not so much whether they’re ‘meant’ to be watched with the sound on or off.

It might just be me, but I find it much easier to concentrate on the actual animation when there is no sound. Sound adds more than you’d think when it comes to a visual medium like animation and the only way (for me at least) to fully appreciate an animator’s work is to simply remove any sound. (I only do this when I’m trying to actually study animation, not when I’m enjoying it).

My point was that if you were to watch a Looney Tunes short with no sound, you would still get the gist of the story compared to a Family Guy episode where you would be completely lost without the sound; in one the animation helps tell the story, in the other, the animation is more accurately described as ‘illustrated radio’.

Jason H

At first I thought it was going to be about memes and oddly enough it still sorta holds true if you pretend that’s what he’s talking about.

Great presentation!

http://www.jengarza.com JenGarza

Best lecture I’ve seen about unconscious movement. A lot of focus is on large, clear pose-to-pose keyframes and I haven’t ran into subtle, thought-based fidgeting/pose lectures much. It was very interesting. Thanks for sharing! (If anyone knows of some other great animation lectures, please link me up!)

http://lifeincartoonmotion.org TÃ¼nde

Classmates of mine (that study 3D Computer Animation and Visual Effects at the Utrecht School of the Arts) actually got a 1 or 2 week workshop at school in mime.

Mime Is Money

” .”

Wilbert

Even if someone was around they wouldn’t care. It’s a MIME fergodsake.